DOTHAN – Two early lightning delays seemed to be a bad omen for Dothan as the Tigers gave up two fumble recoveries for touchdowns in falling behind 14-13 in the first half to Park Crossing on Thursday night.

But in the second half, Dothan found a little lightning of its own in the form of Isiah Long.

Turning to its ground game after intermission and putting the ball in the hands of Long often, Dothan pulled away for a 32-14 victory at Rip Hewes Stadium.

Long, a senior running back, rushed for 147 yards on 27 carries in paving the way for a punishing Dothan ground attack.

The Tigers evened their record at 1-1, while Park Crossing — a new school in its initial season — is also 1-1.

The Dothan defense held the Thunderbirds to 98 yards of offense — 60 by the run and 38 passing.

While Park Crossing was never able to get anything going offensively, the Thunderbirds' defense did come up with two big plays on Tiger miscues. Lineman John Angell fell on a fumble in the end zone for the first touchdown of the night, and Jocquez Dixon picked up a fumble and rambled 55 yards for a score right before the end of the first half to give the Thunderbirds a one-point edge at halftime.

The second half, however, was all Dothan as the Tigers scored on their first two possessions of the second half on long drives to take command of the game.

After holding Park Crossing on the first series of the third quarter, Dothan marched 88 yards on 12 plays to take the lead when quarterback Tyler Marshall went in from 2 yards out with 6:23 to play in the period. The try for two was unsuccessful, but Dothan led 19-14.

On the ensuing series, Tyrez Lindsey intercepted a Malik Cunningham pass at the Tigers' 25 and returned it to the 49 of Park Crossing.

Dothan then went 49 yards in 10 plays to score when Marshall bulled his way in from 11 yards out, carrying tacklers the final few yards into the end zone. Evan Hogan kicked the extra point and Dothan led 26-14 with 2:25 to play in the third quarter.

Dothan added a final touchdown with 4:31 left when Long scored on a 9-yard run. The PAT was missed.

Deion Dozier followed Long in rushing for Dothan with 61 yards on nine carries, while Marshall had 50 yards on 12 attempts.

The start of the game was delayed by 30 minutes due to lightning.

After both teams failed to gain a first down on their opening possessions, Park Crossing capitalized on a Dothan fumble for the first points of the game.

On a third-and-11 situation from inside the Tigers' 5-yard line, a handoff from the quarterback to the running back was mishandled, resulting in a fumble that was recovered by Angell in the end zone. The extra point kick was good by Jake Lane for the early 7-0 advantage.

Another lightning delay right before the end of the first quarter took up 30 more minutes before play resumed.